Blue Spirited Away
by Leathie
Summary: Katara is rescued by Prince Zuko as the Blue Spirit. He decides to take her back to her brother and the Avatar. Katara falls in love with him over time. Really crappy description but please read! Chapter 7 is up!
1. Chapter 1

Blue Spirited Away Chapter 1

Avatar the last airbender is not mine but if it was up for grabs you bet your sweet behind I would take it!

… Sorry for the really baaaaaaaaaaaad title. Lol. This story is based on my assumption that Aang never told Katara and Sokka that the Blue Spirit is actually prince Zuko. If that isn't true TOO BAD! MWA HA HA! I'm writing the story and that's how its gonna be!

How they had gotten into the mess was now a mystery to Katara as she conjured her water whip ready to strike at the next firebender who approached. They were surrounded; Aang, Sokka and herself were back to back trying to find a way out of the desperate situation. Admiral Zhao had discovered them walking along the shore and sent a party of his best men to capture the Avatar, he went along too to guarantee the mission's completion.

"Any ideas?" She asked concentrating hard on keeping her whip bent properly.

"Looks like our only way out is to fight." Said Aang clutching his staff preparing for the struggle to come.

"Wonderful" Sokka spat. He looked to the sky and pouted. "Why does this ALWAYS happen?"

Suddenly there was a loud boom from the fire nation camp several yards to the East. Many firebenders turned to look at the camp in confusion. Aang took this chance.

"Run!" He shouted letting out a gust of wind that knocked away a column of fire benders. Katara and Sokka ran through it slapping away those fire benders still left standing.

"After them!" Admiral Zhao cried after Aang had smacked him smartly with the end of the air staff.

"Split up." Aang ran after his friends "You two go that way, I'll meet you at Kimori village!" The siblings nodded and darted off in the direction Aang pointed. "Hey morons!" Aang shouted at the approaching hoard. "You'll never catch me!" He darted off into the bush.

Katara and Sokka kept running hoping that Aang was all right. They both knew he didn't need help escaping from the fire nation but as his friends they still would worry. "Let's stop for a minute." Said Sokka collapsing and gasping for air.

Katara stopped and grinned at her brother. "Flying on Appa all the time has made you weak."

He gave her a sour look. "I guess." He took a deep breath. "I don't hear any one behind us." He looked back. "I think we lost them."

Katara nodded. "We'll walk from here, to let you catch your breath."

"Thanks." The sour look returned.

Little did they know eyes were watching their every move. Silently moving from treetop to treetop the elite soldiers of Zhao's army had followed these two in order to capture them if the other soldiers failed to capture the Avatar. The leader signaled for a few of the troop to go ahead of the teenagers and set up traps that would guarantee success.

"Really Sokka! Do you have to be so disgusting?" Sokka was giggling at his sister who was fanning her face from her brother's fart. "What have you been eating anyway?"

"Your cooking, what else would make such an awful Smeeeeeellllll! Sokka tripped over a wire and was roped by the ankle hanging from a tree.

"SOKKA!" Katara screamed. The elite firebenders jumped down from their hiding places and grabbed at Katara. She had no time to think all she could do was

"RUN KATARA!"

She bolted and managed to lose all but one persistent firebender. He grabbed her hair and jerked her to the forest floor. "OOWCH!" She yelled and held the back of her throbbing head. She was then slapped viciously and she started to get tears in her eyes.

"That's what you get for running away!" The firebender lifted her off the ground and started back to his group.

"Put the girl down." A voice said from behind.

The firebender turned around to stare at a masked man wearing all black. The mask was white with blue markings and shined in the moonlight. "Why should I?" he was presented with two broadswords to the chest. The man groaned as his lifeblood spilled to the ground. Katara slid off the man and onto the ground.

"That's why." Katara looked up and stared at her hero. He neatly wiped the blood from his weapons and gracefully returned them to their sheaths. Zuko felt her eyes on him and he grinned. This could prove amusing he thought. "Lets go." He reached for her arm and she accepted his help getting her off the forest floor.

"My brother!" she painfully said. "What happened to him?"

"He got away. I cut his rope and he ran off. I don't know which way he ran though."

"He'll go to the meeting point. Kimori village. I have to get there too." She started walking off.

Zuko sighed. He had better escort her. "I'll get you there quickly if you come with me."

She faced him. "Really?" He nodded. "Alright. I will go with you."

PLEASE R&R (PS: Did I spell Sokka's name wrong?)(PPSS:I love you all! Even if you tell me I suck. -;)

OKAY! The premise is set up! YAY ME! In the next chapter I will try to let you know how poor Sokka is doing. I really just want to concentrate on the fluffy love stuff but a story needs plot and I feel all the characters should be accounted for. So there. Heh, watch me, the next story I write will be all fluffy and frickin cute, just you see. Ciao!


	2. Chapter 2

Let's Do it! Chapter 2!

Avatar: the last airbender belongs to Nickelodeon, no matter how much I begged em.

Katara followed the masked man silently, quite unsure of what to say. She wanted to know so much, mostly who was he? She thought he was somewhat familiar from the way he held himself while walking, what was it? She had been around warriors all her life so she figured she was making up her notions about knowing the stranger. She kept staring at him and she finally gave into her curiosity. "Umm…" She started quietly.

"Yes?" he said turning his head slightly. He had a feeling she was going to ask him something soon, quite aware of Katara's curious nature.

"Well, what is your name?" That's a start she thought.

"You can call me Blue Spirit."

"Oh." Darn, I should have known I wouldn't get the real answer. She pouted and looked to the ground. He must have a really good reason to hide his identity though. She decided to be satisfied with whatever answers she got.

"We should stop soon. Night is falling quickly." He looked for a clear area and upon finding one dropped his satchel down.

Katara followed him and agreed with the spot he had chosen. It had enough cover to hide them if any firebenders were still stalking around. "Should we make a fire?"

Zuko looked around. "It's probably safe enough but it's not cold. Do you have anything to eat?"

"No, all our supplies were on Appa." She recalled the huge bison flying away from the fight at Aang's command. She knew that Aang was probably already on his way to Kimori riding Appa.

"I see." He reached into his bag and pulled out a blanket, he tossed it to her. "Here, use this as padding for the ground." He also pulled out some dried meat and tossed her a portion of it.

She bit into the meat hungrily, for the past few days she had eaten nothing but berries and the roots of plants. She watched him stroll over to the edge of the camp. "What about you?" She asked grateful that he had offered her at least a decent nights sleep and some food in her stomach.

"I will keep guard, you can rest all night." He leaned against a tree with his broadswords easily accessible.

"That's not fair to you. I can stay up part of the night, you should rest too." She twisted a corner of the blanket in her hands. "I am grateful for what you have done for me, but you do not have to be so noble as to risk fatigue for my sake. Please allow me to keep guard first."

Behind his mask Zuko looked at her with admiration that he never felt for another human, besides uncle maybe. She made a good point, if they were to be attacked further down the road there was a chance, all be it very slim, that he wouldn't have the energy to fend the fiends off. He sighed; she would make an excellent princess. "You have proven your point."

She smiled; he was such a sweet guy. "I will wake you up when the moon sets." She stood and planted herself in the spot next to him. She gestured to the blanket " Go on, you can trust me not to look at your face while you sleep."

Zuko trusted Katara and made his way over to the blanket lying down so that his mask was comfortable to wear. Eventually he dosed off.

Sokka was so tired! He had been walking all night unwilling to stop. He hoped Katara had gotten away safely. He looked up into the sky and saw the moon starting to set. He needed to sleep and his stomach was growling so much! He grumbled to himself, he would even eat Aang's cooking right now.

Sokka did a double take when he saw a light not too far off. He headed toward it careful to not make much noise. He reached the outskirts of the camp and noticed a very large fluffy animal sleeping heavily. "Appa?" Sokka said now sure that he was hallucinating from lack of food. He touched the bison and Appa gave out a sigh and gave Sokka a look of annoyance. "APPA!" Sokka hugged the bison with joy and started ravaging the food packs. " Hey buddy is Aang with you?"

"Yeah I'm over here Sokka." Aang came out of the forest with a bundle of wood in his hands. " You should be more quiet though, I think there are no firebenders around but I'm too sure of that."

" You're right, sorry."

"Is Katara here with you?"

"No. She ran off after we got ambushed, I barely escaped intact. I really have no idea how I got down from the rope trap, I guess it was just a crummy rope or something."

"And she just ran off?"

" Yeah, we should still get to Kimori though."

" Okay, but if Katara doesn't show up a day after we get to Kimori we go looking for her."

" I agree completely."

So our lovebirds are getting along peachy keen! I had a freakout moment during the Avatar marathon, the title of the chapter where the blue spirit was introduced was called the red spirit but I was glad that I got it right. Anyway please R&R, I really appreciate those ppl who responded. Thanks so much for the encouragement. Ciao!


	3. Chapter 3

Wow! This weekend has given me a lot of time to write the chapters for this story! Usually with school it takes longer to do so this weekend I am going to write as much as I can to make you guys happy! Thank you all for so much support! Onto the story!

Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to nickelodeon…. Why, god, why?

Chapter 3

Katara awoke with a shiver; the air was crisp this morning. She looked to the dawning sun and thought for a moment, she then realized she didn't wake Blue Spirit up! She got up from the trunk of the tree and noticed that the blanket fell off her shoulders. She didn't see a sign of him anywhere. She almost started to panic.

" Morning." She gasped and turned quickly. There he was mask and all standing behind her. " Sorry to startle you." He tossed some wood in a small pit and lit it with two rocks he hit together, or at least that's what Katara saw, Zuko actually used firebending.

" I am so sorry, I guess I was more tired than I thought." She bowed to him. " Please accept my sincerest apologies."

" There is no need for that, when I woke up you couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes." Besides he couldn't bear to wake her from such a restful looking sleep. So he wrapped the blanket around her and remained awake the rest of the night.

She sat down across from him and poked at the fire with a stick. She watched as he shoved small metal spears through skinned rabbits that were just caught. " Wow, I'm no good at catching things. Sokka tries to but never catches anything either and Aang won't eat meat so he doesn't hunt for it."

" You just have to know where to look." He put the meat on rocks in the fire to cook and watched them carefully. " I followed the rabbit back to it's den, that's where I got all these." He turned the five rabbits on their stones, the meat browning and making Katara drool in anticipation. " You have to be patient in the woods and eventually nature will give you the chance to gather food."

" I see." She took her eyes off the cooking food and watched the light of the flames bounce off his mask. She sighed inwardly, I bet he's gorgeous! Man I just want to rip that mask right off him! Why does he have to be so cool? Damn it!

He could feel her staring at him again. Zuko blushed freely. Having the mask on was almost a freedom, he could say and express emotions without anyone watching, but he regretted not letting Katara see his face. Zuko would love to throw the mask off right there but her reaction would be bad. She would run away if she knew the truth. He sighed and lifted his head from his work. "Hmm, what?"

" Oh, um… nothing." Her head screamed idiot! Idiot stupid moron! "I was wondering how far you think we'll get today."

" We will have to camp out another night but we will reach Kimori by noon tomorrow." He held up the meat from the fire and studied it. He slid his mask up so he could bite into it. Katara's eyes grew huge, his lips looked so soft and strong and oh gods! She was blushing furiously. " Here" he handed her a cooked rabbit "it's done."

"Thank you." She concentrated on eating in an attempt to cool down. Traveling with him was going to be difficult from now on.

They saved some of the meat for the road. They traveled faster than yesterday, both wanting to get as far away from the fire nation as possible.

" So tell me" Katara began as she hoisted herself up over a rock that served as a sort of stair as the trail climbed the side of a mountain, " Why are you against the fire nation?"

" Well" Zuko lent her a hand up " I didn't want the Avatar to be captured for starters."

" Oh," duh Katara, why else would he help Aang? She dusted herself off and arched her back to stretch her muscles, she was sore from sleeping against the tree and from walking.

Zuko blushed while she stretched, her bust had become a bit more prominent." Also I can't stand the way the fire nation's warriors behave these days. They have no self control." They kept walking side by side. " It used to be dishonorable for a man to strike a woman in the fire nation but no one seems to care for the rules anymore. Just like the Fire Lord." Zuko gritted his teeth under the mask.

Katara saw him ball up his fist. " Did you grow up there?" She asked unsure of what she would think of his answer.

" A little. I was a child at the time, a few years ago I left those lands."

He said it in such a sad way that Katara decided not to ask him anymore about his past. She wondered if she was ever going to see him again after getting to Kimori. She really wanted to see more of him. She remembered something suddenly; Aunt Wu told her that she would marry a great bender one day. Katara thought she meant Aang but Katara felt like a big sister towards the powerful Avatar. The powerful bender had to be someone else. She looked over at her masked man, she never saw him use bending of any kind. Since he was born in the fire nation there was a possibility that he was a firebender. She frowned, she didn't want to marry a firebender but if he were one… no, Sokka would kill her if that happened. It was better for her not to know if he was a bender.

He noticed her worried look, she was so very nice to him. " My life hasn't been so bad though," he turned to her "After all I got to meet you."

Katara blushed freely. This man was so wonderful. She wanted to be near him, always. She began to step closer to him when an arrow struck the ground between the two. Katara gasped and took a step back.

Zuko saw the next arrows coming and drew his blades. He fended them off and grabbed Katara's wrist. They ran but were quickly surrounded by a band of thieves.

The leader of the fiends showed himself. "Now, we wont hurt you much if you just give us all your money and supplies." The disgusting man laughed. " I also want a ride with your pretty young girl there!"

" Never!" He shouted. Zuko counted at least twenty of them, not promising odds. He couldn't fight all of these men without using firebending but he wondered, Could Katara hold her own in the fight? He had never really seen the girl in action before so he doubted her abilities. Perhaps if there were a source of water around. As if his prayers were answered it started to rain heavily.

Katara smiled, she had been training hard with Aang these past few months and she felt more powerful right now than she had ever felt before. " Should we run, or fight?"

" How destructive can your bending be?" a huge smile showing in his speech.

" Very." With a snap of her wrists Katara sent an enormous wave of water through the thieves surrounding them. Many of the bandits ran and screamed ad the water plowed through their ranks. She twisted the wave back and engulfed more of the scoundrels. She shoved them off the edge of the mountain and looked for more thieves to fight.

Zuko was holding his own quite easily against two of the thieves. They were clumsy in their movements so it took seconds to drop them to the ground and move on to other opponents. Zuko felt something behind him and when he turned it was too late, or so he thought. Katara had immersed the bandit in a bubble of water before he had struck. She released the bandit by throwing him into a nearby tree, knocking him out cold. She grinned at Zuko and stood next to him. It looked as if the bandits knew they couldn't win and had all run away.

" You, Katara of the Water tribe, are truly amazing." Zuko brushed a piece of wet hair out of her face. He moved his mask up halfway and grasped her shoulders. He kissed her in the cold rain.

HA HA HA! CLIFF HANGER CENTRAL! I love you guys and I got to have you wanting more! I am currently working on chapter 4 and I want to get it up by at least Sunday. So I promise not too long of a wait! Ciao!


	4. Chapter 4

My goodness! All the reviews! Thank you all sooooooooo much for the support! However, I KNOW Zuko never said anything to Aang when he was the blue spirit but for a relationship to form Katara and Zuko have to talk. So I thought the mask would at least distort his voice a little! But I thank you for pointing that out to me, I would have never thought of it. Anyway on with the story.

Avatar: the last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon, not me….pout

Aang and Sokka arrived in the village of Kimori around mid evening trying to beat the rain. They landed at the entrance of the town. " Appa go find a place to sleep." Aang and Sokka grabbed their packs off the bison and headed into town with Momo sleeping on Aang's shoulders.

" I hope we can find somewhere to stay for free." Sokka's stomach growled " and get some food." They continued walking through the Town Square. The few people who were out stared at Aang as he passed by. It seemed that no one had ever seen a boy with blue arrows tattooed on his body.

An elderly woman came out from under her porch and yelled " Hey kids!" Aang and Sokka looked at her confused. " Yes, you two! Come here!" They did as she asked. She studied Aang for a moment. " You're an airbender aren't you?"

"Yes ma'am, I am." Aang shifted uneasily looking to Sokka wondering if they should run.

" Then you must be the Avatar I've heard so much about." She said it quietly so no one could hear other than Aang. He nodded to her. " You two should come inside, I have food and extra beds, make yourselves at home." Aang and Sokka looked at the old woman with doubting expressions. " Don't worry, I promise nothing is going to happen while you stay here." With that they accepted her invitation.

Katara was cold from the rain and her soaked clothes but she didn't care all she wanted to feel was the warmth of the kiss. It lasted for minutes though to her it was an eternity, she kept wanting more, to deepen what she already felt for this man.

Zuko felt the soft skin of her lips and her silky hair and had to control himself not to take her right there. He didn't want to let her go, ever. He sighed the cold was bothering him he knew she had to be freezing. He released the kiss and held Katara as she steadied herself. " We should find shelter from the rain." He said gently offering her his hand.

" Right." She took hold of his hand and he led her up the trail some more. She put her fingers up to her lips they were still very warm and tingling. She smiled to herself, is this what love is?

They continued walking the trail when an old broken down shack appeared in the distance. When they reached it Zuko inspected it and found it to be abandoned. Katara started bending the water from their clothes it took only minutes and they were much drier. Zuko started a small fire in an old stove that would heat the room. He watched as she put the blanket on the floor and lay down. " I am so tired." She said yawning and curling up into a ball. She saw him watching her and smiled. "Want to join me?"

Zuko's mouth gaped, she was so seductive with her big blue eyes piercing through his mask. He really, really wanted to lie next to her. Unfortunately the rational Zuko kicked on. " The bandits may still be around. I'll stay up." He sat down on an old box next to the entrance.

She wiggled her toes at him. "I think we scared those cowards off for a while." She patted a spot next to her. "Come on, let's get some sleep." She rolled over and grinned. " And take off that mask I promise I won't look."

Rational Zuko had lost at that moment but Zuko eyed her, he wouldn't trust her that much. " Fine, but the lights are going out." Extinguished the stove and made his way over to her. Katara rolled back over and watched him in the darkness. She could see the mask come off his head and he sat down next to her. At that moment she wished she were a firebender then she could light up the room and finally see who he was. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Good night." He whispered huskily trying to hide his voice.

" Good night." She kissed him and hugged him close drawing in his warmth. Tomorrow they would part ways so she wanted to feel him as much as possible. She started to reach her hand up to his face she felt his nose and his mouth with her fingertips but when she moved her hand to the left side of his face he grabbed her wrist and gently kissed her fingers. She sighed and placed her hand on his chest. Within moments she was sound asleep.

Not as bad a cliffhanger as last time, I figure this story should be completed in a few chappies. Well I should update soon, Luv U all!


	5. Chapter 5

Question: Why was Zuko stalking around as the Blue Spirit? Answer: read this chapter to find out! (I'm writing this as though the North Pole battle has already happened. I'm gonna assume that Zuko is still presumed dead by the army and is still stowing away on Zhao's ship. I hate Nickelodeon for making us wait so long for the season finale. At least we get a whole hour of Avatar though!)

Chapter 5

Zuko kept awake holding the sleeping waterbender in his arms. He could smell the sea in her hair as he breathed. It was nice to have her warm weight against him. He started to think about how this had all begun. He remembered forcing his ship into Katara's village, her stupid brother trying to defend the tiny burg. He remembered Katara staring at him with wide frightened eyes. Back then he would have killed her without a second thought. She showed up several more times as he chased the Avatar. Most notably when she stole the water scroll and when the fire nation invaded the Northern Water Tribe. She was always there ready to defend what she loved and to help the Avatar save the world. He admitted to himself, after the North Pole incident that he admired her courage and underlying his admiration there were feelings he had not felt before.

Katara sighed and started mumbling in her sleep. Zuko stiffened slightly until she settled down again. Only a few days ago he had left the ship in disguise as the Blue Spirit to see where Zhao was going with his personal guard and a small group of elite firebenders. If Zhao had found the Avatar Zuko had to stop him.

Zhao had indeed found the Avatar and the soldiers had run away from the camp to chase after the Avatar and his two companions. Zuko took the time to wound Zhao's campaign by releasing all of his rhinos and lighting the fuses to all of the blasting jelly containers in the camp. He then followed the path of the hunt hoping to catch up to the little airbender and provide some assistance without being seen. After all the Avatar knew who he was and for right now Zuko wanted to stay dead to the eyes of the world.

He had arrived to the clearing just as the blasting jelly blew up in the camp. He watched as the Avatar used the distraction to help his friends escape. Zuko smirked in glee as Admiral Zhao was smacked with the boy's air staff. The Avatar and his friends ran with the soldiers following them. Zuko then noted the elite firebenders jump into the canopy and follow after them. Zuko took to the trees as well and silently followed the elites sure that they would lead him to the avatar. Maybe his chance had arrived for him to catch the annoying airbender and return home to take back his birthright.

After following the elite soldiers for a while something felt wrong, he could no longer hear the laughing voice of the Avatar but the bickering of the two siblings. Why were they following these two? Zhao was going to use them as bait of course idiot. Zuko mentally reprimanded himself. These two were much easier to capture than the Avatar, the boy was useless in battle and they had the girl away from her element. They were as good as captured. Zuko gritted his teeth he wouldn't let Zhao win so easily.

So here he was lying next to the beautiful waterbender. In the morning he would take her to Kimori at that point he would leave, he couldn't risk her knowing who he was. He rubbed his nose into the back of her head but gods he never wanted this to end. Zuko felt the tears coming to his eyes and he fought them back. He only remembered being this happy when he was in the arms of his mother. He shook his head to stop the bad thoughts from coming to his head the ones always associated with his mother's death. No, he did not want to think about that now.

The sun began to peak through the spaces in boards of the old shack. Zuko frowned they would have to get moving in the next few hours to get Katara back to the Avatar and her brother. He sighed and lay there a moment longer taking in Katara's smell, warmth, and the feel of her soft skin. He would never forget these feelings.

Aang awoke in the bed provided by the old woman he and Sokka were staying with. The sun was above the horizon and Aang could hear his stomach growl. The old woman was an excellent cook, he and Sokka had stuffed themselves during dinner and fell asleep with happy stomachs. Aang went over to Sokka's bed and nudged him. " Hey Sokka."

" What Aang?" Sokka dug himself deeper into the covers.

" Don't you want breakfast?" Sokka rolled over expecting Aang to be holding a heaping pile of bacon and fried eggs but quickly frowned when Aang had nothing not even piece of dried meat to offer him. " Now that you're awake we can eat and start looking for Katara."

" Aang, I'm sure it would take her a little longer to get here on foot. She'll be here by tonight."

Aang pouted. " Are you positive you saw her get away? I mean what if she was captured? We would have been wasting all this time while she is in trouble! Sokka!" Aang grabbed his arm and shook it. " Lets go now!"

Sokka grumbled. " Fine, but we eat first."

" Not to worry kids!" The old lady came into the room with a basket in hand. " You should go look for your friend and when you find her please come back to see me." She handed Aang the basket. " Plenty to eat for you and your friend." She smiled and bowed to them. " I wish you the best of luck."

" Lets go." They quickly mounted Appa and took off in search for Katara.

Okay, not much fluff this chapter (please don't kill me!). I felt that I should explain some stuff before I write the last chapter. I hope you guys are happy with it. I'm working on another story to put up pretty soon, just tweaking the grammar and such. The next chapter may take a little longer to put up (I'm in college… and I have finals… and I'm gonna die from the stress) but I'll get it up in a timely manner. Luv U all Ciao!


	6. Chapter 6

OMG, I hate college… at the end of the semester you feel like your life is gonna end! I had sooooo much crap to do over the past week, I nearly committed Seppuku (Taking your life by gutting yourself with your own katana/ tanto if you don't know.) The only way I survived was watching the Avatar Season Finale! It was awsome! I got kinda upset though, I didn't think Katara and Zuko would fight! So yeah Zuko has seen her abilities but you guys will just have to deal with my short falls. Anyway I survived to write another day! Let's do this bitch!

Chapter 6

Katara grumbled when she woke up she felt the place next to her and she sighed. The spot was cold, he had been gone for a little while now. She sat up and looked around yawning profusely he was nowhere in sight and it looked like he had left her some breakfast. She took the smoked fish and berries and savored their mingled flavor. She sighed and began to nibble on her fish her thoughts bothering her. Had he left her? They were pretty close to the village now, she had seen signs the other day, and maybe he thought she could make it on her own now. After all she had displayed her powerful abilities to him, he probably went on his way back to wherever he came from. She frowned and started to cry.

" What's wrong?" she gasped and looked up shocked to see him standing in the doorway. She leapt off the floor and wrapped her arms around his neck. " What is it?" He asked gently.

" I thought you had left." Came her reply muffled by his shoulder. She started shaking as more sobs came to her.

" I'm not going anywhere. I promised you I would get you back to your friends and I will." He was rocking slightly trying to soothe her like a mother would a child.

" I know… but… but you'll just leave then too."

Her voice stung him like a stab to the heart. He didn't want to leave her but he had to. He sighed. " I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you but you must understand I have things that I must do. When those objectives are completed I will come back for you."

" You promise?" she stared at the eyes behind the mask, golden orbs that held a gentle gaze.

" I promise you, Katara, on my honor that I will return to you." He relished the smile she gave him, he would never make her unhappy again.

They left the shack and continued along the path towards Kimori, it was a warm sunny day much more pleasant than the evening had been. They walked rather slowly neither wanting the trip to end. Katara kept smiling at him, and he was smiling back even though she couldn't see him. Zuko grinned to himself he reached over and took her hand. She started blushing and couldn't look at him, she was so silly, she was so embarrassed over holding his hand! They both sighed and smiled, what a wonderful day.

"KATARA!" Sokka yelled for the millionth time as he leaned over Appa's saddle looking for any sign of his sister. He swore he saw flashes of blue a few times but those leads had all been useless. Eventually Aang gave up on Sokka's instructions completely. They were following a main road from the sky they had seen a few people walking along it but none resembling Katara at all. Aang was becoming frustrated, if anything happened to her he couldn't forgive himself. She was his best friend, and he hoped one day that she would be his girlfriend. " KATARA!" He belted the shout out and sent the sound waves into the wind so that it would travel farther.

" Aang?" Katara's eyes went wide and she smiled. " My friends came looking for me!" She started running in the direction that she heard his voice.

Zuko ran after her and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her back to him roughly. " Wait." He hugged her close to him. " Goodbye." Zuko lifted the mask and kissed her deeply. Katara melted into his kiss, he was so warm. She felt his tongue caress her lips and she opened her mouth and let him devour her taste. This was heaven.

" Aang!" Sokka made his way over to him and pointed to the ground. Aang peered over the side and was struck dumb. There was Katara… KISSING SOME GUY! After he stared at them another realization came to him the guy she was kissing was the Blue Spirit, Zuko. Aangs fury was unmatched, how could she do this! On instinct Aang grabbed his staff and jumped from Appa.

" Aang stop!" Katara released the kiss from Zuko and looked up, there was Aaap with Sokka grabbing onto his reins and there was something else coming closer to them very fast. Aang? She was pushed back and she stumbled regaining her balance, she had been pushed by air, it was Aang. " Aang! What are you doing! You could have hurt someone!" She started to chide him and stopped when she heard the serious tone in his voice.

" Stay back Katara." Aang stood with his back to her his staff at the ready voice dripping with anger.

Zuko stared in horror as Aang came down from the huge air bison, all was lost now, he would lose Katara in one short sentence. Why was he so stupid as to walk in the open with the girl? He gritted his teeth, his happiness had overruled his judgement today. He gripped his broadswords and quickly unsheathed them. He was pushed by the Avatar with a slash of wind that knocked him against a tree. He looked up to Katara, she appeared to not have been hurt in the least and he was thankful for that. He had a feeling the Avatar was very angry.

Aang let lose a sharp air blast at Zuko. Zuko dodged and stood back up at the ready. Aang furiously threw a barrage of air at Zuko who had dodged them all except for one that spiraled him into a boulder he slammed into it and could feel the blood come to his lips. He knew he had to firebend if he was going to have any chance against the furious Avatar, the charade was going to end soon anyway.

" Aang stop it!" Katara yelled gathering her courage back up. She couldn't stand to see her savior pummeled to death. " Aang he saved me from the firebenders! He saved Sokka too!"

"Huh, I wondered why the rope broke." Sokka lamented. " Aang if that's true then we should thank him for his help." Katara beamed at her brother, he was the best!

" You don't know who he is, but I do." The siblings stared at him with puzzled looks. " Show yourself Zuko."

Katara's mouth gaped. " What?" she whispered to herself. This had to be some sort of nightmare, yes that's it! I'll wake up and the real Blue Spirit will be lying next to me, certainly not Zuko of all people! She waited. Oh gods this is real!

Zuko sighed. He jerked the tie of the mask and watched if fall to the ground and land with a chime from the ceramic surface, he pulled down the cloth covering his neck, ears, and hair. He slowly looked up at Katara with apologies written all over his face.

She stared at his. " No… no…" she collapsed to her knees but kept her gaze on him. " you… you are not the man I love!" She spat the words at him and sunk her head into he hands. Sokka gathered his sister in his arms.

" Aang, we should go. She's out cold." Sokka lifted Katara and headed toward Appa.

Aang nodded. He looked at Zuko and almost felt pity. " Don't ever come near her again." He threw another blast of air hitting next to Zuko's head producing a large crevas in the boulder. " Or else."

Zuko didn't doubt the seriousness of the boy. He watched helplessly as they lifted off and flew away. He sat a stared at the last place he saw them. Zuko's heart had broken and he could do nothing but weep.

WOW! What a long chapter! Hope you guys like it! Thanks for all the reviews BTW. I am gonna write one more chapter a kind of epiloge, just cause I like a happy ending and I would never let poor Zuko suffer too much. Love You All! Ciao!


	7. Chapter 7

Ok, here we GO!

Avatar does not belong to me, but it should….

Chapter 7 Epilogue

It had been months since she saw him and she couldn't stop thinking about him. It hadn't been a dream it had all been real and now she was in love and miserable. Over and over again she had thought about it. Why did it have to be him? Why did it have to be Zuko? _Who else would you want it to be?_ She kept mentally chiding herself, Zuko was the enemy not her friend. _But he did save you_. Shut up.

She sat up in her sleeping bag and got out of it just like she had been doing every night for the past week. She went for a walk in the crisp air and tried to clear her thoughts, but however far she walked she couldn't get him out of her head. She kept walking deeper into the woods until she looked back and didn't see her companions. She sat down on a rock and took out a pouch she kept under her parka. She tossed it on the ground and the contents came out, they were seven small notes with blue ribbons tied to them.

She stared at them. Whenever the Fire Navy was close to their location she would always find one in her sleeping bag she knew they were from him. She had tried to catch him in the act but sleep would always overtake her and she would wake up angry to see a note on her when she woke up. She hadn't read them, so why did she keep them? She could just cast them into the sea and let the words drown and disappear forever but she couldn't do it. They sat in the pile tempting her. "Fine" she whispered to herself " I'll read one." She reached over and picked one. She untied the ribbon and opened the tiny note.

Katara- 

_I have said sorry so many times that I just don't know what to say anymore. I never meant for any of this to happen. I still want to talk to you, please. I will be waiting for you at the Humbi docks. Please come._

_- Zuko_

She stared at it. He asked to see me? He was sorry? She let her thoughts hang for a moment and tears came to her eyes. She opened another note.

Why haven't you come? I'm sorry, so very sorry I just want to talk. Katara please, I can't stop thinking about you. I think I love you.

He loves me? She was shaking and started tearing through the notes trying to figure out which one was the most recent. Then she found it.

I'm obviously wasting my time with this. Why did I think you were worth this kind of torture? You are torturing me, but I'll never hate you for it. I would give up anything for you and you know it. I have given up on capturing the Avatar, the entire world thinks I'm dead and I see no point to this anymore. You will never see me again.

The note dropped out of her hands and she sat there letting the tears trickle down her cheeks. She was angry with herself, she should have read the notes sooner and now she desperately wanted to see him, How was she going to find him? Where was the fire navy now? Was he still even with them? She shook her head and wiped the tears away, this is stupid it was too late to do anything now.

Days went by and she was still depressed despite the efforts of Aang and even her brother to cheer her up. Aang would bring her flowers everyday and tell her how pretty she was but she wasn't listening, her life was meaningless. The boys were growing very concerned. " Katara? Do you want to see a doctor or something?"

" No Aang."

He frowned and scooted closer. " Are you sure?"

" Yes, medicine can't cure what's wrong with me." She was looking off into the distance and noticed a few ships. She sighed; they were just merchant vessels.

" Hey Aang" Sokka said, he was sitting at the front steering Appa, " Should we stop at that town tonight? It looks like they have a market."

" Sure. We need more food." Aang scoured the town with his eyes. " We should be careful though, that looks like a fire nation ship."

WHAT! Katara pulled herself over to the side of Appa's saddle and looked at where Aang pointed. It was a fire navy ship and maybe Zuko was on it.

" Maybe we shouldn't stay then, I mean we could get caught by the fire nation." Sokka started to turn Appa away from the town.

" Wait Sokka." Katara came up to the boys and sat down. " We do need food, so lets camp outside of town and I will go into town and buy food."

They stared at her, Katara hadn't talked that much in two days and if she did talk it wasn't very enthusiastic. Aang thought about it for a moment " Does this have something to do with Zuko?"

" No, absolutely not, I never want to see that jerk again. I just want to walk around the town, it will help make me feel better." She pointed to the market. " Doesn't it look like fun?"

" I guess." Aang rubbed his head and eventually gave into her request, anything to make her happy.

They landed and started setting up camp Aang gave her the money and told her to be quick it was already getting dark. She ran down the path and was soon in the town, it was already dark and she had to catch a vendor before he completely closed up for the night.

" Mangos and papayas please. Oh and some of that dried deer over there." She pointed at the hanging meat.

" Ok." He gathered what she asked for and she paid him. " Be safe on your way home, firebenders are about."

" Thanks, I will" She walked toward the docks where they had seen the ship earlier, it was dark now and torches were lit throughout the town. When she got to the docks she hid in the shadows watching the fire nation guards at the entrance to the ship. She looked up and saw a man leaning over the side. She recognized him, it was that old man she had seen Zuko with, his uncle maybe? She couldn't quite remember. She watched the old man turn from the ocean and he stood there for a while, he was talking to someone.

She walked away from the guards and made her way to the water. She slowly trudged into it not wanting to make too much noise and alerting the guards. She swam over to the side of the boat and pushed herself up with waterbending onto the hanging anchor. She climbed up it and peered over the edge of the deck.

" I understand why you are so upset prince Zuko but all is not lost." Zuko was walking back and forth with flames bursting from his hands. " We can still capture the Avatar there is still hope of that."

" Uncle!" Zuko turned to the old man and growled. " Please, just leave me alone for a while I can't think straight with you pestering me."

" Very well." Iroh made his way to the door. " Please get some rest."

Zuko watched him leave and went over to the side of the deck. He stared at the stars. He wondered about so many things but he just couldn't understand why she didn't answer him. He gritted his teeth he would not cry he had already shed too many tears for that stupid girl.

" You should be nicer to your uncle." Out of instinct Zuko threw a fireball at the source of the sound. Katara used the water out of a mop bucket near by to extinguish the flame. " Its just me you jerk."

He stared. It couldn't be her. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. There she was. " Why are you here?"

" I don't know." She looked the other way and rubbed her shoulders. " You said you wanted to talk."

" You read the notes?"

" All of them, just a few days ago… I avoided them for a long time… Sorry." She looked at him. " I don't blame you for being angry with me. I was angry too."

" Because it was me."

" Yes." They looked at each other in silence.

" I'm sorry that you had to find out like that. Of course I didn't know when I was ever going to let you know." He was lost for words.

" You said that you think you love me, is that true?" She took a step closer to him.

" You said the same thing, is that true." He took a step closer to her.

" I can't stop thinking about you… so I think I do."

" Same here."

" I feel lonely without you, I can't eat or sleep or laugh or do anything right." She looked down " I feel so pathetic."

" That makes two of us." He took another step toward her and stood within grabbing distance. " Its up to you."

She looked at him with confused eyes " What?"

" What we do from here is up to you. Since we both think we love each other maybe we should give this a chance." He stared into her big blue eyes and was becoming lost in their depths.

His eyes were like fire and she couldn't look away. She wanted to be consumed by their eternal warmth. " I think… I would like that." She reached up and felt his face with her palms.

The cool touch of her fingers sent chills down his spine. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. " Are you sure?" He put his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes.

"Yes." They kissed under the light of the moon and relished each other's warmth. The kiss lasted many moments becoming more passionate as the time passed. They released their kiss both gasping for air but they were still holding each other.

" So I'm a monster right?"

She shook her head and traced his scar with her fingers. " If you were I would think you the nicest monster I had ever met." She kissed him lightly. " I have to go."

" I had a feeling." He smiled. " I guess we must part ways for now."

" Yes… We both have our missions to accomplish. You know that we can't truly be together until the war ends." She released him and walked to the edge of the ship. " If you change your mind and try to capture Aang again I promise that I will stop you."

He smiled at her " I look forward to the challenge." He watched her stand on the edge of the deck and look down. " Wait." He ran over and kissed her.

" One for the road?" She gave him a funny look.

" I love you."

She stared at him and then smiled. " I love you too." She jumped over board and he watched her swim away.

THE END

See there told ya I couldn't leave poor Zuko hangin, the guy needs some lovin! Anyway that's the end! First fic that I actually finished. Pushing the Completed button feels soooooooooo good! Thanks to everyone for all the reviews I feel like I'm slowly getting better at writing. I keep going through the old chapters and finding typos (MS word can only do so much!) so I'm gonna start fixing those and I'm working on another story "Of Water Queens and Fire Lords." Another Zutara, I think there the best couple. I'm planning that story out more than this first one and I have a feeling that its gonna be a long story like 10-20 chapters so it'll take most of my x-mas break to write. Anyway Thanks again! Ciao!


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